Vuelta a Espana

Montjuic Crowns Kron

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Barcelona, Sunday, August 27th 2023

Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny) made the most of his punch and of the iconic climb of Montjuic to solo to victory at the end of stage 2 of La Vuelta 23. The Dane attacked with 4 kilometres to go and nobody could keep up with him. Already a stage winner in the Volta a Catalunya 2021, he eventually took his first Grand Tour victory with a gap of 7’’ on Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the fastest man in the chase group. Due to the rains pouring on Barcelona, the times for the general classification were taken with 9 kilometres to go. Part of the early breakaway, Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) was still at the front at that point – the 22 year-old Italian thus takes La Roja from his young compatriot Lorenzo Milesi (Team dsm-firmenich), who suffered a crash earlier in the stage.

Lotto Dstny rider Andreas Kron has taken an emotional stage win at La Vuelta. In a soaking wet stage starting in Mataro and finishing in Barcelona, the time for the general classification was recorded nine kilometres before the finish due to safety reasons. Afterwards, the battle for the stage win commenced and Lotto Dstny made its ambitions clear. It was Andreas Kron who placed a fierce attack on the steep slopes towards Montjuic, pushed all the way to the finish and soloed to victory.

Crossing the finish line, Kron pointed to the sky as the Dane dedicated his first stage win in a Grand Tour to teammate Tijl De Decker, who lost his life last Friday after suffering the consequences of a collision on training. “The bad weather conditions made for a difficult and dangerous day on the bike but already this morning I believed in this victory. With the wet roads and also the neutralisation, there would be chances and personally I have worked tremendously hard towards this Vuelta. I had to miss out on the Tour and to come back at this level, with a first stage win in a Grand Tour, means a lot to me. I always said I would dedicate my first win in a Grand Tour to my late mother, but the team is going through a very difficult period at the moment, so I would really like to dedicate this win to Tijl De Decker. My mum will have to wait a bit more, but that second win will hopefully come soon,” Kron reacted.

Stage 2

  1. Andreas Kron (Lotto-Dstny) in 4h22’44’’
  2. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at 07’’
  3. Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r Citroën Team) at 07’’

GC

  1. Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-Easypost) in 4h14’14’’
  2. Javier Romo (Astana Qazaqstan Team) at 11’’
  3. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar Team) at 13’’